State gets ready for early prisoner releases

October 29, 2009

As the state prepares to release about 1,000 inmates from prison up to a year early, parole agents across Illinois are making unannounced visits to select homes, checking for overcrowding, drug paraphernalia and vicious dogs that could hamper future inspections.

After determining there is adequate space for an inmate, the agents stress to residents that their homes are in for a drastic change.

"I make sure they understand their house is now an extension of prison," Matt Lukow, an agent, explained.

By releasing those inmates from prison in the next few weeks, Gov. Pat Quinn's administration hopes to save millions of dollars and usher in other alternatives to incarceration. But the cost-cutting early releases are opposed by police, prosecutors and some crime victims.

Instead of living behind barbed wire and bars, the offenders will be monitored by electronic ankle bracelets in the homes of friends or family members. Shedding jumpsuits for jeans, they can leave home for jobs, drug counseling or other productive activities. Parole agents, not prison guards, will monitor their behavior.

It is among a variety of controversial changes in corrections sweeping the country, as states work to plug the massive financial drain of prisons.

Truth-in-sentencing laws, the war on drugs and spikes in violent crime have helped fuel a costly explosion in the prison population in recent decades. Illinois taxpayers spend more than $1 billion a year on corrections.

With its population of 45,545, the state system operates much like a revolving door: Half of inmates return to prison within three years, in many cases for technical violations of parole.

State officials contend they will release only nonviolent drug and property crime offenders with no previous parole violations and no outstanding warrants or orders of protection taken out against them.

But the administration declined Thursday to release a list of inmates or their offenses, saying it had not been finalized.

Corrections officials and many criminal justice experts say the offenders pose minimal threat to the public and have better shots at rehabilitation if they remain in the community. Most of the inmates will return to Cook County.

"This is not just an opportunity to save some money but also to deal with crime more effectively," said Michael Randle, director of the Department of Corrections.

Critics are blasting the move, saying early release undermines the criminal justice system and puts the public at risk.